Last impressions

Even as the leaves fall to the ground 

And leave their imprints on the sidewalk 

As they dissolve in the rain, 

We, too, will leave some impression behind, 

Our kindness or brutality, 

Acquisitiveness or generosity 

Thrown into relief by our departure, 

And what would you have that impression be?

Autumnal rainbow

Driving down the peninsula 

To spend an afternoon with a friend 

It’s almost hard to say 

Which aspect of the afternoon 

Brings more pleasure: 

The hours of conversation, 

Deep discussions and hearty laughter, 

Or the rainbow blush of autumn 

As she sheds her multicolored coat…

Brief encounter

For just a brief few moments

 I held you in my hand and felt 

The beating heart of America:

 Fragile, wounded, but recovering,

 And so, to give you safety, time, 

And room to spread your wings and fly again,

 I set you carefully in a sheltered spot 

 Away from birds of prey 

 But open to the outer world. 

 After a few breaths, 

 You flew to me, resting briefly 

On my pantleg, restoring balance, 

Then off into a nearby tree 

And home into the sky.

Veterans Day

Today and every day, 

We honor them, 

And thank them for their service…

Intuition

There are times when we need to listen 

To the promptings of intuition 

And trust the possibility 

 That the longing for something to change, 

The impulse to make a course correction

— however slight — 

Might just be God calling…

Anointing the ordinary

Autumn, with its golden skies and fog, 

Has a lovely way of anointing 

 The wholly ordinary 

Into something holy and mysterious…

The joy of symmetry

I remember, as a child, my mother teaching me 

The importance of asymmetry.

 At Christmas, I’d arrange things on the mantel 

And she would come by after me 

And shift them all around; 

 Put two candles on the right and shift 

The other to the left, 

Yet still, as an adult, I love 

The natural symmetry of things, 

And sometimes take delight 

In ignoring the Rule of Thirds…